Fashion and Costume History in Films

The
long awaited PG13, 2hrs 23 minutes film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is an enchanting, dramatic,
suspenseful and sad film. Set in 1870 Mid-Victorian Paris it is full
of familiar music and graceful costumes making a spectacular musical
extravaganza. The film timing was good and I left the cinema feeling as if I
had been entertained.

Christine Daa is perfect as the ingenuous heroine played by 18 year old Emmy
Rossum. She is an orphan girl being secretly trained to sing as an
opera soprano by the Phantom called Erik, played by Gerard Butler.
Erik mysteriously tutors Christine the beautiful young soprano in the
dungeon like cavernous depths of the Opera Populaire and as he does so, he falls in
love with her. Throughout the film Rossum performs her own songs and
she does it very well too with a delicacy complimenting the age she is meant
to be.

The
orphaned Christine Daa was brought up by Madame Giry played by Miranda
Richardson. But unknown to Christine the kindly Madame Giry also offered
refuge to Erik many years earlier when she herself was a young girl and when
he as a young boy was shunned by society and laughed at as a freak.
She rescued him from a freak show situation where he was daily abused by his
carers all because his face was disfigured.

Wearing a sculptured mask at all times which almost enhances his rugged
chiselled jaw line, Erik nurtures the singing talent of Christine in a
Svengali like way as if he has a hold over her, which draws her to him.
He soon thinks he has found the love that can bring peace, comfort and
contentment to his broken
heart; a heart broken my lack of worldly love. But Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny
played by Patrick Wilson arrives on the scenes and soon it is clear that
Christine recognises him as her childhood boyfriend.

As the new patron of the opera Raoul is soon in a situation where he
recognises her. The feud between the two men continues as they fight
for Christine's love. I think most of us would not consider the
phantom to be anything like as unsightly or frightening in a horror movie
way as earlier film versions have shown him to be. The phantom in this
version with mask removed, is a man some of us thought a better catch than
Raoul! In Lloyd Webber's opera version the mask is now merely symbolic
of a man hiding behind a cover. The mask itself is beautifully made
and a thing of sculptured beauty.

The
film is full of spectacular and fantastical choreographed scenes which
remind me of the boom bang, in your face effects of the fantastic Baz
Luhrmann Moulin Rouge film of 2002. I absolutely loved the film The
Phantom of the Opera. It's opera from start to finish, but
somehow because one feels familiar with the songs having heard many pieces
over the years beforehand, as soon as one moves into unknown musical territory it
gets back on track into a familiar melody. I normally like opera, but
my husband who saw the film with me, does not usually like it and he enjoyed
Phantom too.

The
majority of scenes are all set within the opera house apart from the visits
to the cemetery. This setting almost totally in the vaults and dungeon like
caves of the Opera house gives a sense of being penned into the opera house
too. You get a great sense of the claustrophobia and anguish the
players all feel from the confines of working and living in the opera
theatre premises. As a viewer you begin to feel as if you are in the
actual opera house and in the souls of both the tortured phantom and the torn
Christine, who is drawn to Erik both fascinated and repulsed by him at the same
time.

Well you are probably reading this review on this web site because you
want to know about the costumes in Phantom and what little things were
interesting and which might emerge as a fashion item. I think I was
so busy enjoying the film it's hard to be specific about so many costumes
without watching it again. Even the fantastic rich lush gold
ornamented curtains of the opera theatre vie for your attention as do the
simple Degas style ballet costumes of the chorus.

In brief the costume was worth seeing and was often pretty
and feminine. I'd say the diamond chandelier starburst
earrings, the pink fur capelet and the swathed full voluminous skirts all
stand a chance of emerging as fashion fads

In
her debut scene the orphaned Christine the femme fatale wears a white
Mid-Victorian styled soft dress and the most wonderful chandelier style
diamond earrings. The earrings sit atop the lobe as a large starburst
and have a short link then another medium starburst, another short link and
finally a third smaller starburst of diamonds. They are exceptionally
pretty and it would be great if a manufacturer copied them soon in either
diamonds or cubic zirconia I think, as I
kept thinking I want those when I saw them on screen prettily twinkling away!

(Since I first wrote about Christine's earrings in the paragraph above, a
site reader wrote ...... 'Well I was browsing Vogue recently and saw
an advertisement for a pair of earrings very similar! They are by H. Stern.
There is a picture of them on the website under advertising if you go
to www.hstern.net')But see below - Swarovski crystal is the
name to watch.

In
keeping with the hair styling of 1870 when hair was adorned with flowers
with evening dresses, Christine's hair was decorated with tiny flower pieces
and this also reminded me of the way evening updo hair was sometimes dressed
circa 1969-1973 as well. Maybe this will make a revival alongside the
larger hair ornament corsages that have been fashionable.

In
one scene she wears a lace trimmed robe which was some sort of peignoir
masquerading as a tea gown.
It was divine and so feminine. It dripped with lace and showed just enough of her creamy ivory stockings to
show she was both desirable and innocent. It is all very tasteful and chaste whilst showing the promise of what might be when this young
woman would blossom. Later there is a wedding dress scene and she also
wakes without her stockings. What exactly happened in between we are
not shown (this is a PG13 film), but the loss of the stockings may be
significant!

Many
of the scenes are very entertaining particularly the Bal Masque (Masked
Ball) which is costumed totally in black and white for all guests apart from
Christine who seems to float around the ballroom in the softest of softest,
pink magnolia dress. Aspects of this setting brought to mind the
famous Ascot race scene in the Audrey Hepburn film version of My Fair Lady.

An
interesting contrast to the pure and chaste Christine, is the operas house
diva called La Carlotta and played
by Minnie Driver. She is everything opposite to Christine and plays
her part well as over made up, over haughty and over straining her voice. Her outfits are deliberately OTT, but wonderful with it as they are so
outrageous too. Driver is like the wicked and ugly sister all rolled
into one. Perfect casting I'd say. Driver is the only actress who does
not actually sing the high notes herself in this film. But she can certainly act as
a
spoilt diva very well.

I
thought Driver very good and her outfits equally fantastical. In one
scene where she exits the opera house she wears a deep plum pink softly
swathed bustle dress from the first bustle period of circa 1870, all
complete with a wonderful little pink fur capelet to die for and very much
of contemporary fashion. The pink fur capelet ties very cutely at the
centre front and she tops it all off with a coordinating massive fur muff.
Totally over the top but costume lovers will just think wow so ridiculous an
outfit, but marvellous at the same time.

In a
later operatic scene on stage, La Carlotta dons a dress which is intended to be from an earlier
era, circa 1770s and she wears a 2 foot high platinum white wig with it to
complete the look.

The
film photography is outstanding, the music always familiar, and the ending
just rather sad and melancholy. It really is very much a beauty and the
beast film.

The
only aspect of it I really didn't like was the make up they used to show
various actors as ageing people about 50 years later than the time of the
action. Ghastly job. Some looked as if sacks of flour had been
dusted over them. But all in
all I very much enjoyed what was a sensational production of pure spectacle,
and have been irritatingly humming lines from it for the past 2 weeks!

I
really enjoyed this film and would give it 8 out of 10.

The
film was directed by: Joel Schumacher and produced by Sir Andrew Lloyd
Webber.

You have been
reading an original Phantom of the Opera film review by Pauline Weston
Thomas of www.fashion-era.com

Swarovski Crystals
in the Phantom of the Opera Costumes, Jewellery and Interiors

SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL
PLAYS A LEADING ROLE IN THE FILM OF
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Swarovski, the
world’s leading producer of cut crystal for fashion, jewellery and
chandeliers, was instrumental in creating the magnificent crystal chandelier
that plays an important role in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
The Phantom of the Opera filmed at Pinewood Studios, directed by Joel
Schumacher, released in December 2004.

The awe-inspiring
‘Hero’ chandelier, 17 feet high and 13.2 feet wide, is hung with some 20,000
full cut STRASS® Swarovski crystal octagons. Swarovski worked closely with
the Phantom’s set designer Anthony Pratt on the design concept and
construction of the chandelier, which has been produced by leading
chandelier manufacturer, Tisserant in Paris, taking four months to construct
and a full four days to assemble at Pinewood Studios. The chandelier weighs
2.3 tons and is estimated to be worth £730,000.

In its shining role
in the film version of The Phantom of the Opera, the chandelier is a symbol
of the opulence of the fictional Opera Populaire in Paris in the height of
its glory in the 1870s. It also plays a central role in the storyline when,
at the dramatic climax, the Phantom sends the chandelier crashing into the
packed audience, setting the Opera House ablaze.

STRASS® Swarovski
crystal is celebrated worldwide for its unrivalled brilliance and lustre,
and for the perfection of its precision cut, which captures, reflects and
plays with light, colour and movement. STRASS® Swarovski crystal has
illuminated some of the most dramatic and historic interiors around the
globe, from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York to the Palace of
Versailles, Paris.

-------v6-------

SWAROVSKI BEJEWELS
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Swarovski jewellery
stones and crystal textile applications were used by The Phantom of the
Opera’s costume designer Alex Byrne to add the perfect note of romance and
glamour to the costumes and accessories in the film. Christine’s engagement
ring, worn prominently on a chain around her neck, is made with Swarovski’s
precision cut cubic zirconia, while the lavish Swarovski shop window, into
which Raoul gazes wistfully in 1919, is filled with evocative period jewels
set with Swarovski crystal jewellery stones.

Since the company
was established in 1895, Swarovski has supplied crystal jewellery stones to
the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of fine couture and fashion
jewellery.

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Fashion-Era.com looks at women's costume and fashion history and analyses the mood of an era. Changes in technology, leisure, work, cultural and moral values. Homelife and politics also
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